The World Bank calls for financial support for the Palestinian Territories

In the Palestinian Territories, the Covid-19 crisis has worsened an economic situation already on the brink.

Here, a Palestinian in the streets of Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, July 2, 2020. © REUTERS / Mohamad Torokman

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

This is one of the rare subjects on which the Israeli and Palestinian governments agree: the international community must increase its financial aid to the Palestinian Authority.

This is also one of the recommendations of a World Bank report published Monday, May 9.

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With our correspondent in Ramallah,

Alice Froussard

Even though the Palestinian economy has picked up after a year of stagnation due to the pandemic, even though GDP grew by 7.8% thanks to more permits given to Palestinians to work in Israel, Palestinian finances are extremely precarious.

So much so that the World Bank calls on the international community for new budget support. 

Because the Palestinian Authority is heavily dependent on foreign donors and this funding is in freefall: it has fallen from 1.6 billion euros in 2008 to only 300 million euros this year, according to the World Bank report. . 

A drop mainly due to delays in donations from certain European countries, but also to the financial disengagement of certain Gulf countries which sanctioned the Palestinians after their strong criticism of the Abraham Accords, the normalization agreements between Israel and certain Arab countries.

So to cope, the Palestinians are borrowing beyond their means: the real deficit has reached 892 million euros and the Palestinian Authority is sacrificing its public sector, in particular by reducing the salaries of civil servants, who represent 1/5th of the assets. in the occupied West Bank.

For six months, public sector employees have only received between 70 and 80% of their salary, and expect to receive only 50% by the end of May.

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  • Palestinian territories

  • Israel